[TheForge] Gate question

Fri May 23 14:46:01 2003

I have a question relating to this :
I was told that in my area (North Carolina) if the railing was "ornamental"
the baby's head was 6"
 If the railing was made up of straight balusters then the baby's head would
be 4"
If this is true what about a railing that has both vertical newel posts and
panels that are scrollwork.
 what I wonder is that if it falls in to the category that the inspector
would consider the 4" requirement ,then does the scrollwork also have to
meet that  same requirement?
The railing that I am biding on is an existing wooden railing that I am
going to remove the balusters from and replace with iron work
I was told by fabricator in the area that I shouldn't even worry about the
code because it wont even be inspected.
I really don't like that idea I think it would be a bad idea to build a
railing that doesn't meet code whether it is inspected or not ..
any comments?
----- Original Message -----
From: "RIES NIEMI" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2003 10:52 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Gate question


> Its interesting how many different answers we got to this question.
> It really pays to talk to the actual building inspector, as they all seem
to
> interpret the code differently.
>
> I am working on 550 linear feet of fencing right now, that has to meet the
> 4" sphere requirement, and it sure is driving me crazy. I have a little
> circle of 1/8" plate about 3 7/8" diameter, which we use to check with. We
> call it a baby head. We have been jokingly considering making a few cutout
> baby heads from 1/8" plate, and if the inspector calls us on any openings,
> we will just weld one of those baby heads in.
>
> Supposedly all this 4" sphere mania is the result of one guy- a safety
> fanatic engineer, Elliot Stephenson, a rail safety advocate from Ariz who
is
> singlehandedly getting laws changed.
> Nomma is trying to counteract his efforts with the UBC, with mixed
results.
> He recently tried to require all railings to have only vertical elements-
> thus pretty much wiping out the entire tradition of ornamental ironwork.
> Luckily they beat him back on that one, but he is a constant force against
> creative ironwork.
>
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